Back at One
by Somber Secrets
Summary: "Then she must be your dream come true." "He just wanted to be with you." "Sakura, I find that it's pretty plain to see..." "Is he just repeating himself?" "I'm in love with him...What? He made me do it!" KakaSaku
1. You're a Dream Come True

Back at One

Premise: 1 You're like a dream come true; 2 Just wanna be with you; 3 Girl it's plain to see that you're the only one for me; and 4 Repeat steps 1 through 3; 5 Make you fall in love with me, if ever I believe my work is done then I'll start back at one. KakaSaku

Making the summary fit was hell. I have not written anything fluffy in a long time. Based off of the song Back at One by Brian McKnight. Listen to it, it rocks my socks.

Disclaimer: I don't own the song or the characters

WARNING: **REALLY PRETENTIOUS FLUFF.** Sucky fluff maybe...but fluff none the less

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Chapter 1: You're A Dream Come True

"Sakura…"

"Yes Kakashi?" Sakura asked as she looked up from her reading material to gaze at his seemingly shocked face. The shadows played over his features and Sakura raised her eyebrow as he pulled in closer to her. Usually her old sensei wasn't one to invade personal space.

His one eye narrowed as he kneeled down to look at her directly in her eyes. Sakura blinked innocently and tilted her head wondering what had gotten into her old sensei. "What are you reading Sakura?"

Sakura blinked again before laughing in realization. "I thought that you would have recognized the cover right away!" Sakura chirped as she waved the book in front of his face.

Kakashi's eye remained narrowed as he gazed at her, "Impossible. You must be hiding another book behind the pages," he muttered and tried to peak around her hands to gaze at the pages that he had memorized several years earlier.

Sakura giggled as she pulled the book away from him and stood up. "I really don't think you can hide something behind a book this small," Sakura laughed before closing the bright orange cover with the large red sign on it with a loud snap, "Especially when it's all closed up. Don't you think Kakashi?"

Kakashi paused for a moment before standing up slowly, "Why are you reading that Sakura? I didn't think that it was your kind of literature," Kakashi muttered as he scratched the back of his head. He would never admit it to her, but he still had trouble comprehending the visual of the bright orange book being held in her hands while her eyes were actually scanning through the pages.

Sakura smiled and crinkled her eyes in the process, Kakashi couldn't help but wonder when he had noticed just HOW the girl smiled and how her eyes glowed even when the bright smile was gone. "Why do YOU read it?" Sakura asked in response and with her hands on her hips, "Are you saying that just because I'm a girl I shouldn't be reading this in public?"

Kakashi smiled nervously at her as he once again rubbed the back of his neck, "No, its not that at all." 'More like you shouldn't be reading it because you're little, not so little, pink haired Sakura who used to scream and punch at me while I was reading it.'

Sakura raised her eyebrow and seemingly read his thought process, "I'm not a little girl anymore Kakashi. I'm a good twenty years old and I have even stopped calling you sensei."

"Ah…" 'So now I notice…'

Sakura just laughed again as she prodded at the weapon pouch sitting on her hip and slipped the novel into its dark recesses. "Ready to train then?" She shrugged off her green Jonin vest and rolled her shoulders.

"Ah…" He couldn't help but find her actions very familiar. The stiffness in his shoulders left as well as he stretched his neck.

Sakura walked out towards the open field and turned back towards the silver-haired man. He was still standing near the tree line with his eyes surveying her but in the next moment he was gone and Sakura let a smile grace her lips. She scanned the area and disappeared in a huge flourish of pink petals as well.

Kakashi bounded through the trees quietly as he watched the pink cherry blossoms scatter in the clearing. He lifted his hitae-ate away from his sharingan eye quickly and searched for her chakra signature. He was shocked to find that Sakura had appeared directly in front of him. "Frontal attack Sakura? I thought that you had gotten over such obvious actions?" Kakashi stated as he ducked from her fist and expertly dodged while taking steps backwards and swinging his body around the trees.

"Well actually Kakashi," Sakura smiled as she twirled and swung her foot at his knees before flying back to her feet and swinging her fist at his collarbone, "It turns out I had a question I wanted to ask you."

"Don't you think this is a bad time?" Kakashi asked as he made a move to try to catch her wrist but missed as she flipped to land behind him. He couldn't help but smile at her gracefulness and her grandeur improvement.

"Oh I just wanted to get it off my mind," Sakura replied as she flew to the floor and tried to take him off of his feet.

"It must be something very important in that case," Kakashi replied as he leapt up and raced through a series of seals. Just as he replaced himself with a stump a handful of kunai dug into the wood.

Sakura grinned as she turned around and focused her eyes at the man's belly button. Although Gai had told Lee that staring at the man's feet had worked for him, she found that his abs pleased her much more. Especially since he had decided that wearing the Jonin vest while sparring against her was simply impeding him. Plus his abs told her as much about his actions as his feet did. Sakura raced towards him again and flowed chakra into her fist, "I was just wondering if you can actually do that thing on page 59."

The next thing Kakashi registered was a chakra laden fist smashing into his shoulder, but he found that he couldn't quite care although the girl in front of him was flailing around in shock and backing up in surprise. "What?" he nearly screeched just barely holding onto his pride as a man as his butt slammed into the ground.

"What?" Sakura squealed back as she rushed forward and landed on her knees heavily beside him, "I've never landed such a direct hit on you like that, what were you thinking!" She was running her hands up and down his arm as he pushed himself off of the forest floor with his other elbow.

"What were you thinking?" Kakashi shot back as her hands started to glow a bright green and her fingers began to prod at his shoulder.

Sakura rolled her eyes at his childish response as she increased the chakra flow, "Well it doesn't matter what I was thinking then Kakashi. It matters that right now I think that you can't even do page 59 if you couldn't even dodge that."

"Sakura!"

"What?"

* * *

Kakashi rubbed his sore shoulder as he walked down the street towards the old ramen stand, Ichiraku, where they would be meeting up with Naruto and Sai. "I still can't believe that you let me take that hit," Sakura mumbled beside him as she tossed him several glances and a condescending glare.

'That's right, I let her land that hit,' Kakashi thought as he peered at her through the corner of his eye. He nearly tripped when he noticed that she had taken out the orange book and was currently walking with it shoved into her face. "Sakura…"

"You're right, it is easier than I thought," Sakura mumbled as she licked her thumb and turned the page. Kakashi's eye twitched at her actions as she flashed him a smile before going back to the reading content. "I meant the walking and the reading Kakashi, get your mind out of the gutter."

In his casual defense he began to reach behind him to dig out his teal colored book but that was when Kakashi realized that he hadn't even brought his book with him to their training session. He had stopped when he had found it more amusing to just be with her all the time, but now she was… and he was… "Sakura, you used to look up to me."

"I still look up to you Kakashi," Sakura replied and turned the page once more. The hand not holding the book then began to gesture at their height difference as she giggled.

Kakashi sighed and shook his before looking up at the road in front of him. The stand was only a little while more ahead and he could already see Naruto's head popping out and waving at them. The little bugger had sensed them even before Kakashi had registered his position in the village, "I'm getting old…"

"You're not old Kakashi," Sakura laughed as she once again flipped the page. She dodged a little boy that had almost ran into her side all the while still keeping her gaze trained on the words. "After all no old man would be able to pull off page 59. By the way, that was a little bit too much information even though you were trying to defend yourself."

Sakura laughed again as Kakashi found himself blanching at the memory of his mouth running off. It was the usual, he could read his book in public like nothing, but when it actually came to discussing the contents, especially with his once innocent little student, he had blabbering issues that he needed to fix. That was when Kakashi noticed Naruto giving them an odd look as the couple approached the stand. "Mou, mou Kakashi-sensei, what did you do to Sakura-chan? It's like she's turned into you…" Naruto frowned while trying to whisper into the older man's ear. Naruto couldn't whisper, it was physically impossible.

Kakashi held his hands up in defense as he stopped before entering the stand, "I am not responsible for that," Kakashi stated as he took one finger and angled it towards the girl who had continued walking into the booth and proceeded to sit down, still turning to the next page.

Naruto shook his head at his silver-haired sensei before moving to one side to let Kakashi in, "Then she must be your dream come true."

Kakashi blinked a couple times as Sakura's light giggle filled the air. He took a look over at her as her face flushed, her eyes glowed, her hair swayed and as she turned the page quickly. For just a moment he couldn't help but think that maybe Naruto was right.

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Next chapter up soon. Please REVIEW.


	2. Just Want To Be With You

Back at One

Premise: 1 You're like a dream come true; 2 Just wanna be with you; 3 Girl it's plain to see that you're the only one for me; and 4 Repeat steps 1 through 3; 5 Make you fall in love with me, if ever I believe my work is done then I'll start back at one. KakaSaku

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters...

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Chapter 2: Just Want to Be With You

"Sakura…"

"Yes Kakashi."

"You must be finished that by now."

"This is my third time through it."

Kakashi didn't quite know what to say to that. It definitely hadn't been the response that he had been expecting. "Aren't you getting tired of it? Surely on your third time through, the content must get predictable."

Sakura smiled up at him through the leaves for a second before reaching over and poking him in the arm. She then promptly proceeded in stuffing her nose back into the pages of the book, "Nope. Did you ever get tired of it back in our genin days?" she asked rhetorically.

"I had many books to cycle through," Kakashi replied as he leaned around the trunk of the tree on which the limbs they were sitting on. He snuck a glance at the pages of the book again just to reaffirm that the past few days hadn't all just been in his head and that his innocent little Sakura was actually reading what he thought she was.

Kakashi turned back around when Sakura flipped the page and came upon page 59. Nothing good came from that page and nothing good was coming from her light giggle either.

Both of them were facing in opposite directions while taking a break from their training and that was the only thing that allowed Kakashi to let his thoughts roam. Sakura had learned long ago how to read his emotions through just the one exposed eye. He had definitely been spending much too much time with her.

Sakura giggled again, this time the sound suddenly closer than before and Kakashi turned to see that her bright green eyes were looking directly into his one gray one. "Is that an offer from you to let me borrow your books Kakashi?" Sakura asked as she closed the orange cover in her hands.

"There was no such offer," Kakashi replied, "You can go buy your own copies if you wish to continue reading the series." He couldn't believe he had just said that. He didn't want her to read the rest of the series, he really, really didn't.

"They're sold out everywhere in Konoha," Sakura pouted cutely.

Kakashi coughed politely and looked away before asking, "Are you ready to get back on the field again?"

Sakura grinned, "Yep!" she replied before she jumped off the tree limb and landed on the forest floor. She tucked her little orange book in the back pocket of her weapons pouch. "Don't be a slow poke!"

"Take pity on an old man," Kakashi replied as he leapt off his branch and joined her on the ground.

Sakura merely laughed before shaking her head, "How many times do I have to remind you that you are not old?"

"It makes an old man happy to hear a beautiful, young lady say that he is youthful as well," Kakashi replied and Sakura laughed with his chuckle as they both began to walk towards the open training field. Meanwhile, Kakashi tried to wrap his mind around the fact that he had just used the word 'beautiful' for the first time in his life.

"You sound like Gai now!"

"I don't find that statement in anyway amusing."

"You were laughing…"

"At something absolutely different."

Sakura grinned at him and skipped to the other side of the training field. "Are you ready Kakashi?"

"You know you won't be so lucky as to land a hit again, right?"

"Yes, yes. It was a one time thing, yadda yadda. But now you know to take me seriously!" Sakura then leapt into the air and came back down on her former teacher fist first. The only thing that she could feel when she touched down where Kakashi had been standing moments before were the leaves playing around her, "Taking me seriously does not mean hiding Kakashi!" Sakura screamed.

Kakashi laughed from the shadows.

Ten minutes later Kakashi wasn't laughing anymore. In all actuality he was exasperated. If he had done her the courtesy of putting away his book while training why couldn't she? Now he knew what it felt like to be a genin on his team.

Sakura had pulled out the orange book only five minutes into the battle when she had some how deemed that he hadn't been worth her full efforts. Granted maybe he had been at fault for that assumption to come up, but the girl was being ridiculous nonetheless. He was the copy-nin Kakashi, not to be taken lightly in any situation. "I never should have let her land that hit on me…" Kakashi mumbled as he stalked through the trees. Sakura had disappeared from his view just moments before and now he was trying to locate her using his sharingan.

Going through a series of seals Kakashi reappeared right in front of his pink-haired protégé and was delighted by her surprised squeak. She reeled back quickly and sent the ground under him flying towards the sky with her foot. Kakashi reached forward quickly and his finger slightly nicked the pages of the accursed book before it was pulled out of his reach. He cursed inwardly as he flipped and landed back on his two feet. He had never thought there would come a day where he would hate the orange novel, but indeed the day had come.

"Kakashi! Are you trying to steal my book?" Sakura giggled as she span around and tried to land a kick to his torso. Kakashi maneuvered himself so that he would be able to fly over her leg and grab the book.

"You're attention shouldn't be diverted while fighting me Sakura. I'm not an opponent that should be taken lightly!"

That was how it had started, his mission to remove the girl's attention from the pages of that stupid novel and put it back where it really mattered, him. Kakashi froze as the train of thought hit him and then Sakura's actual hit came right after. "Damn it Kakashi!"

"Ugg…"

"Two hits in one week," Sakura muttered darkly, "Maybe you are getting old." She pulled at his black shirt forcefully before giving up and just ripping it open. He shifted slightly at the feel of her cold, small, soft hands and sweated due to the lack of a barrier between their exposed skin. "Stay still you stupid buffoon!" Now he had a handprint on his torso… that would be attractive later on. But was it just him or were her eyes roaming the planes of his abs more than an average medic's eyes would? He didn't want to dwell on the thought for too long, he liked the attention.

Kakashi couldn't help but smile despite the pain and the searing green light that was invading his vision. She was paying attention only to him again; the stupid novel had disappeared and lain forgotten into the bushes.

* * *

Sakura mumbled wearily as she made her way to the door. It was one of her days off from the hospital, missions and training and she just wanted to catch up on her sleep bingeing, she had been falling behind as of late due to a certain somebody, but she couldn't help but not be mad at him. It was nice finally being able to spend time with the man who had shaped her career and childhood. But right now she had other issues, like why someone was still incessantly knocking on her door.

"Naruto I swear if you just want to invite me out for ramen, I'm going to kill you!" Sakura screamed as she threw open her front door with a loud bang. She was glad that Shizune had bought her that door stopper several months ago, it had saved her lots of repair costs as of late.

"How about coffee instead?"

Sakura blinked wearily as she rubbed at her eyes, "Kakashi?"

"You really do look like you're in need of a good dose of coffee."

"What are you doing here at…" Sakura took a look behind her at the clock on the wall, "ten o'clock in the morning. God it's late…"

"Coffee?"

"Yah sure, just wait five minutes," Sakura murmured as she walked away from her front door. Sakura couldn't help but snort at how many times Kakashi had said coffee, it had almost seemed like he was nervous, but that was impossible. The man at her front door was the stoic Hatake Kakashi after all. But was it just her or was the silver haired man monopolizing all of her time these days? Oh well, she didn't really care; he was after all, pleasant company.

Changing and brushing her teeth quickly Sakura pulled on her nicest and cleanest civilian clothes, a short, white, pleated skirt and a red long sleeved, turtleneck top. Hopping out of her room she blearily looked at her front door, which was still standing ajar with a copy-nin still standing outside. "You could have come in you know…"

Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck, "A-ah, no point now. It looks like you're about ready."

"Uh huh…" Sakura mumbled as she stumbled to the front door and pulled on her comfiest non-ninja shoes and her black coat.

Kakashi backed away as she walked out of her apartment and locked the door behind her. Sakura continued to slowly go through the waking up process as they walked side by side towards the closest café down the block. "You uh… look really nice today."

"Thank you?" Sakura questioned as she looked up at the copy nin. He refused to look back at her and instead went along with his trademark head rub. "You uh… look like you do everyday… I guess."

"We're here," Kakashi muttered really quickly as he literally charged into the café. Sakura shook her head at her teammate wondering what was going through his head. She placed her jacket down on one of the many outdoor tables, claiming it, before going in to find her former sensei and pay for the poor man as well, cheap bastard that he always was.

"Kakashi?" Sakura squeaked in shock.

"Yes?"

"What is that?"

"It's a coffee Sakura-chan… I would've thought you would've known what a coffee was if you accepted my invitation."

"You do know that you are holding two right? You do know that you need to pay for both of those right?"

"Yes Sakura, I do happen to know how the market economic system works. Now take your coffee before it gets cold," Kakashi replied as he stuffed one of the two cups in his hands into hers. Sakura blinked wearily and turned slowly to watch Kakashi take a seat at their claimed table.

"Did he just…pay for me?" Sakura mumbled, "God I must be more out of it than I thought…"

"Sitting anytime soon?"

"Ah, coming…" Sakura stumbled and sat down in the chair that was across from Kakashi. She sipped her hot drink and blinked in shock when she recognized her favorite brew. She looked up at the man in front of her with wide eyes but he continued to look away from her while sipping his own coffee through his mask.

"We should get coffee together again sometime," Kakashi mumbled discreetly between his tentative sips.

Sakura increased her grip around her paper cup before nodding with a small smile tugging on her lips, "I'd like that."

* * *

"So then Naruto goes to Hinata-chan's house and charges through the front door to only be met face to face with Neji…"

"I can already tell that something bad is going to happen," Kakashi chuckled as he stuck a piece of barbeque pork on the grill. The aroma of dinner engulfed both of them but Kakashi allowed for the girl in front of him to stop speaking first, it was a courtesy he could give to her.

"Let me finish!" Sakura squealed as she leaned forward, her eyes sparkled in humor, "Okay so Naruto comes face to face with Neji and do you know what he does in his state of half delirium?"

"What does he do?"

"Naruto makes out with him instead, thinking that he was Hinata-chan!" Sakura bellowed and sat back while letting the laughs constrict and relax her chest. "All the while still thanking her um.. him for the cookies!" She shook with happiness as tears sprung to the edges of her eyes, "Oh man, Hanabi-chan even got a photo! You have got to see it."

"Remarkable, that our future Hokage can mistake his girlfriend for a different man."

"Mou Sakura-chan… you don't need to go around telling everyone that," a voice called from the front of the barbeque house.

Sakura looked up with a grin as she waved at her other two teammates, "Naruto, Sai! Come over here and sit with us!"

Naruto tore through the booths to get the seat beside Sakura and Sai sauntered up to the booth in his usual way. Kakashi nodded at the ink user before scooting over and letting the ex-root ANBU sit. "Sakura-chan, don't show Kakashi-sensei the picture…please?"

"How about the video instead?" Sakura grinned. There were ways to get around the boy's giant blue, puppy dog eyes.

"There's a video?" Naruto exclaimed as his face heated up. He had to admit that he was never going to let Tsunade inject morphine into his system ever again.

"Hanabi-chan is brilliant."

"Actually, Sai will you excuse me?" Kakashi muttered.

"Ah…" Sai nodded as he moved from his seat to let the silver-haired man out. Sakura and Naruto continued to banter as the copy-nin made his solo get away. By the time Sakura noticed his disappearance he was long gone.

"Neh, where did Kakashi go?"

"He just wanted to leave," Sai replied.

"Probably trying to skip out on the bill again, that cheap bastard," Naruto declared as he bit through a slice of beef. It was true, suddenly half of the portion of beef that had been on the table was missing.

"Oh…but I was having such a fun time talking with him…" Sakura mumbled as she hopelessly gazed around the restaurant, "Why would he leave?" She wouldn't club Naruto for the cheap bastard comment, she was confused on that angle herself today.

"Maybe he just wanted to be with you."

"Eh?"

Sai nodded and pulled out a blue book from his pocket with a large pink heart decorating the cover; Naruto groaned in exasperation as Sakura rose her eyebrow into her hairline. "This book says that when a man leaves abruptly upon the arrival of other people, mainly male, it means that he just wishes to spend time with the one person he was with before. He just wanted to be with you."

Sakura blushed slightly at the comment although she knew that half of what Sai usually had to say had no real pretenses, "Neh? Maybe…"

"That's gross Sai, why would Kakashi want to be with just with Sakura-chan? Ow! I didn't mean it like that Sakura-chan. What I meant was that he's all old and stuff and Sakura-chan would much rather be with us... I mean me!"

Naruto continued to mumble out in pain as a large bump grew on his first bump which was growing on his head. He threw Sakura a halfhearted glare at she stuck her tongue out at him playfully. They could never be mad at each other for any reason whatsoever. Resting her elbows on the table and her chin in her hands, Sakura giggled slightly as her eyes clouded in thought, "Maybe I just want to be with him too."

…

"Ew, Sakura-chan… Ow! I'll stop, I'll stop."

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Review please?


	3. Sakura, It's Plain to See

Back at One

Premise: 1 You're like a dream come true; 2 Just wanna be with you; 3 Girl it's plain to see that you're the only one for me; and 4 Repeat steps 1 through 3; 5 Make you fall in love with me, if ever I believe my work is done then I'll start back at one. KakaSaku

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the song

Comments: I think the tone changes in this chapter ever so slightly o-o totally not intentional XD still fluffish : 3

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Chapter 3: Sakura, It's Plain To See

"You stupid, STUPID foolish MAN!" Sakura bellowed as she yanked on the bandage wrapped around his arm harshly.

Kakashi winced despite the effort not to and Sakura only continued to yank and pull even tighter at the movement, "Sakura… I don't think you're helping my nearly detached arm at the moment," he managed to spit out despite the blinding jolts of pain racing down his arm and the numbing sensation that was still blooming from his back and stomach.

Sakura growled and Kakashi flinched as she angrily ripped the strip of the bandage and secured the loose end tightly over his bicep. "You Mister do not get to tell me what is and is not helping your injuries."

"But…"

"Shut up Kakashi, I can make this hurt so much more for you," Sakura snapped as she poked him in the arm, if you could call a sharp jab a poke. "Now off with the vest and the shirt and don't you dare think about anything perverted unless you prefer to have salt rubbed into your wound." Kakashi promptly shut his mouth as Sakura slid the bloody and torn jonin vest from his arms and off of his sore shoulders. "So tell me again how long you've just been sitting in your apartment reading porn while bleeding to death?" Sakura asked as she threw the jonin vest to the side away from the pool of blood that both of them were currently sitting in, not that it mattered; the vest wasn't even green anymore.

"If I answer you you'll just yell at me again," Kakashi muttered and regretted the words the moment his shirt was cut and peeled off of his back mercilessly with a kunai and an angry kunoichi. He missed the kind, tender and loving Sakura, oh where had the girl gone… "Plus, you read my literature now too, you must find that the content is worth the risk…"

"I swear to god Kakashi, I'm going to burn all of your bloody books one day, or better yet steal them away from you and read them without you being able to touch them ever again," Sakura scowled as she regarded the damage to his back and began to clean up some of the blood on his unmarred skin.

"You're not that good," Kakashi muttered defiantly, "I let you get those two hits on me."

"That's what you said last time when I landed the first hit on you," Sakura replied curtly as she once again reassessed the damage and placed her hands in places where she wouldn't hurt him.

"Lucky shots," he muttered again as the cooling sensation of her chakra poured over his back and relieved the numbing pain that he had been suffering through for the past several hours. He was glad that she decided not to take offense to that comment; actually the lack of physical violence from Sakura worried him. How bad was his back that she decided it wasn't worth pounding him for?

"Pass me another roll of bandages, I need to conserve energy for what ever you managed to do to your front," Sakura mumbled as she held out her arm. She kneed his in the lower back when he reached out for the item with his injured arm, "The other one you stupid excuse for a shinobi, damn it!"

Kakashi sighed again as he replaced his damaged arm back to his side and reached out with his good arm. At least he knew that his enemies had gone nowhere near his perfect butt. Or at least that was what Sakura had once shouted while high on coffee. He would never regret spending the extra few dollars to treat her every so often... basically every day that he didn't have a mission... there was something really wrong with him...

Picking up the large white roll he held it over his shoulder for the girl behind him to take. When her fingers came in contact with his however, neither of them moved. The white roll dropped back down to the ground with a soft thump as Sakura's fingers curled tightly around his. Kakashi froze stock-still and tried to turn around to face her but his movement was hindered when her cheek pressed to his shoulder. "Sakura…"

"Don't do this to yourself again Kakashi… god please stop doing this to yourself at all! I keep on finding you like this, but never like this before and oh god…"

It was only then that he realized that she was crying. The metallic scent of the blood on his clothes and soaking his floor had over-ridden his senses to the point where he couldn't even detect her tears, Kakashi winced again, but this time not from the physical pain. "Sakura…"

"Please Kakashi. Just call me next time if this happens. You don't have to go to the hospital if you don't want to. You don't even have to stop reading your porn if you don't want to…" she rubbed her cheek against his shoulder as one hiccup was heard bursting from her lips, "But please just call me next time," her voice was slightly slurred and broken by her silent sobs and Kakashi relaxed as he felt the cool salty tears trace down his mostly mended back.

"Sakura…"

"Damn it Kakashi!" Sakura screamed as she squeezed his fingers even tighter, "Don't be such a man with all your stupid man pride that's going to get you killed on the field one day! Or… or even worse…"

"Sakura… you're rubbing salt into my wound and it kind of hurts," Kakashi managed to mutter out, he wasn't one to be able to keep himself on emotional topics, no matter how much he wanted to reply to her in the right way.

Sakura's cool cheek pulled away from his back and her fingers disappeared from his. His arm fell back down to his side with a swish as Sakura picked up the fallen roll of bandages. "I'm sorry…" Sakura mumbled as she stared at the bandages for moment before setting them back down, "I just hate… hate seeing you like this. It makes me feel so useless all over again… so weak… like there was nothing I could do to prevent this."

"You're not useless Sakura, you're the best medic there is," Kakashi replied with a sigh as he looked up at his ceiling. His one eye was shut as it usually was but the other one was clouded with contemplation, "Maybe that's why I don't go to the hospital, the fear that they might stick me with some random medic that I don't like as much as you…"

Sakura sniffled as she wrapped his arms around his torso and flooded her healing chakra over his torso, mending the damaged and torn skin. "That doesn't explain why you didn't even call me you buffoon."

"Sakura… you have better things to do that dote on an old man."

"I would slap you right now if I could," Sakura mumbled into the back of his neck, "How many times do I have to tell you that you are nothing like an old man?"

"Hearing it again helps." He chuckled as Sakura's arms squeezed him tighter and closer to her.

"Stupid, stupid man," Sakura mumbled as she rested her forehead back between his shoulder blades.

"Ah… only stupid for you."

* * *

"So until you manage to recover I'm going to be living in your apartment," Sakura mumbled happily, "Monopolize all of your books, cook all your food for you and clean everything you have up!"

Kakashi sighed as he leaned on his good arm at the little dinner table he had, "I think you're over doing it Sakura…"

Sakura snapped her head to glare as him with her hands on her hips. Kakashi resisted to chuckle at her sneer and allowed his eyes to crinkle in his signature smile, "Well this will show you to never get injured again!"

Kakashi blinked as he raised one eyebrow up, "You think that living with me will stop me from getting injured."

"Yep!"

"I'm afraid Sakura, that you know nothing about men."

Sakura scowled at him again and Kakashi couldn't help but cough in trying to hide his laughter as she once again regarded his apartment, "Of course I don't get you stupid boys. But I know enough to understand that after a night with me living here you won't want to ever get hurt again."

"Really?" His voice dawdled as Sakura stuck her tongue out at him.

"Anyways, I'm going to be sleeping on the couch. No protests Kakashi, you're the one that's injured here."

"I was going to propose you sharing a bed with me…"

"And tonight I'm going to be cooking miso soup with eggplant and salt-broiled saury…" Sakura continued without missing a beat. She tapped her chin as a smile played over her face.

"You honestly think that I'm going to not get injured again after you cook my favorite foods for me," Kakashi reiterated skeptically. The girl couldn't be that daft could she?

"Oh you'll understand soon enough," Sakura stated with a grin as she hopped back to the front door to collect the groceries and bag of personal belongings that she had brought along with her. "Now sit there and be a good boy while I get dinner ready."

"Ah…"

Less than an hour later Kakashi marveled at the food that was placed in front of him and at the girl who was sitting at the other end of the dinner table with a smile on her face. Kakashi would have been suspicious of the grin, but it wasn't every day that his favorite kunoichi cooked for him. He ignored that thought. "Eat up Kakashi!" Sakura chirped.

Kakashi nodded and quickly stuffed a small portion of the food into his mouth without revealing his face. In the next instant he choked from horror and began coughing everything back up again. "You..."

"Nice face," Sakura grinned.

"You ruined it for me, it was my favorite food and you ruined it or me," Kakashi stated shell shocked, how could something that smelled so good taste so awful. It was to the point where he didn't even care about his showing face, the novelty had worn off long before when Hanabi had managed to get a snapshot of him.

"And I'll be cooking every single one of your meals for you while I'm here," Sakura continued to twitter happily as she munched through her own dinner. The smile on her face only got brighter.

Kakashi looked up at her with wide eyes, "How can you even eat that garbage?"

"It's an acquired taste that comes into being when you're too poor to eat out at all times."

"You're never cooking again."

"That wasn't the deal Kakashi," Sakura sang happily as she finished off her miso soup.

"I don't care about stupid deals, I'll die from eating this, injuries or not," Kakashi mumbled as he rested his forehead into his palms and groaned in exasperation, "And this was supposed to be the best thing that has ever happened to me."

"Aw, it's not that bad," Sakura grinned.

"This is why you can handle Naruto's ramen obsession isn't it?"

"Yep!"

"I should have suspected."

"Promise never to not call me again."

"If you promise never to cook for me again."

"Deal," Sakura grinned as she set down her bowl, "Would you like to go out for dinner then?"

"Do you have anymore groceries?" Kakashi asked. Sakura nodded as she pointed over to his fridge and the cupboards that lined his little kitchen, "You really were planning to torture me with your cooking for as long as it took, weren't you?." Sakura nodded happily again as she shuddered from delight at having an advantage over Kakashi that couldn't be brushed off as luck. Kakashi couldn't help but shake his head in laughter as he pulled up his mask. "Let me show you how normal people cook."

"I'm normal," Sakura mumbled as she brought her feet onto the chair and tucked her chin in between her knees, "The cooking problem is genetic. I get it from my mother. My dad was always the cook of the house."

"I can believe that," Kakashi replied as he rifled through the cupboards and pulled out the fresh ingredients that Sakura had stored away. "What do you want to eat?"

"Anything sweet."

"I don't like sweet things."

"Then anything else."

"Good choice," Kakashi replied as he turned on the stove. Looking up from his work Kakashi couldn't help but smile softly at the figure of the pink-haired kunoichi reading one of his novels. Not ten minutes later food was once again placed on the dinner table.

Sakura raised an eyebrow to his cooking. "Looks like nothing special," she stated.

"Good food doesn't need to look special," Kakashi replied as he shoveled some rice into a bowl for her, "Now eat up and we'll get your taste buds back to normal in no time."

"And I was supposed to be the one to cook," Sakura mumbled as she poked her chopsticks into the random stir-fry that Kakashi had managed to concoct. "I'll force you to eat my cooking though if you get injured like that again Kakashi and don't call me. The fact that you can cook better is not going to change a single thing!" Kakashi smirked under his mask as Sakura brought the food to her lips and bit down, suddenly her eyes glowed in delight, "This is delicious!"

"Amazing what not sucking at cooking can do for you."

"Kakashi," Sakura grinned as she reached forwards once again with her chopsticks, "You will be cooking for me for the rest of my life." Kakashi couldn't help but imagine that he would.

* * *

"So it turns out that Kakashi can cook," Sakura chirped as she sat in a chair in the Hokage's office staring out of the large panoramic window behind her Shishou's head, "He's also really neat unlike Naruto. His apartment doesn't smell like spoiled milk and ramen, I actually don't mind the smell actually…"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow, "Good to know that Sakura. But has the mission been completed?"

Sakura turned back to Tsunade with a happy smile, "Yep, Hatake Kakashi will not be dying in his apartment alone anytime soon! He's agreed to call me after every mission."

Tsunade smirked and shook her head, "Just brilliant, worked out better than I would have hoped."

"Mission pay Shishou," Sakura grinned as Tsunade passed her a small envelope while continuing to talk.

"The brat gets his own medic and won't die on me in his bedroom and you get good food, finally."

"My cooking isn't that bad."

"It's horrid."

"Shishou," Sakura whined, "My cooking isn't that bad. It's just that Kakashi's is better."

Tsunade just laughed as she rested her chin on her perfectly manicured nails, "Sakura, I find that it's pretty plain to see."

"What is?" Sakura asked as she turned back to the Hokage's mirthful brown eyes.

"That you're the only one for him."

Sakura blinked before her cheeks turned scarlet, "Shishou!"

* * *

I hope you enjoyed : D Review Please : 3


	4. Repeat Again and Again

Back at One

Premise: 1 You're like a dream come true; 2 Just wanna be with you; 3 Girl it's plain to see that you're the only one for me; and 4 Repeat steps 1 through 3; 5 Make you fall in love with me, if ever I believe my work is done then I'll start back at one. KakaSaku

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 4: Repeat Again and Again

"Mmm," Sakura mumbled as she turned in her position and twitched her nose eagerly. 'What smells this good early in the morning?' Sakura thought absentmindedly as she turned again to get closer to the source of the smell. Her eyes snapped open the moment her body started to reel towards the floor and she screamed from the jolt as her shoulder met up with the wood.

Blinking tenderly as to try to clear her vision Sakura noticed that her body was half hanging off of the couch, her legs still tangled in the blanket that was tightly tucked under the cushions. Blinking one more time Sakura noticed that the light faded away from her vision to reveal a shadow holding two cups of steaming… something. "Good morning sunshine," Kakashi smirked as he set the two cups down on the table that Sakura would've had nearly destroyed with her head had he not shifted it away with his foot.

"Is that coffee?" Sakura mumbled as she desperately fought with the blanket around her ankles and failed miserably. With a huff she decided that fighting the blanket this early in the morning was not going to help her and so she merely turned her torso to face the table, her legs still dangling in the air at awkward angles.

Kakashi kneeled down beside her head and raised his eyebrow as Sakura reached for one of the cups of coffee tenderly and brought it up to her mouth. He continued to watch as she took a sip, sighed with an appreciative smile on her face, placed the cup back onto the table, looked up at him with her bright emerald eyes, before proceeding to face plant herself back into the ground with a thump. "Attractive…"

"What time is it?" Sakura mumbled into the floor as she swung her legs trying to passively escape the confines of the sheets.

"Six forty four in the morning," Kakashi replied as he stood back up and walked around the table in order to get to her feet. He slowly picked apart the blankets all the while dodging her still moving limbs and chuckled when the last toe was freed and the appendages crashed down to the floor to join her head and still aching shoulder.

"Thank you," Sakura muttered, her voice still muffled by the floor.

"Are you sure that you don't want to sleep in a bed?"

"Two in your bed is a crowd Kakashi…" Sakura replied as she forced herself to turn her body and stare up at the ceiling.

"As much as I would like you in my bed, I actually meant wouldn't you like to go home now? After all it has been five days..."

"You're injuries aren't fully healed yet," Sakura stated as she shifted so that she was on her knees. With a tremendous effort she used the couch as leverage to push herself to her feet. Stumbling a little bit Kakashi grabbed her shoulders, turned her around and pushed her towards the bathroom. "Thank you," Sakura mumbled as she weaved her way across the living room.

"I'm sure I'm not going to die from slightly pink scars!" Kakashi stated loudly as he heard the creak of the bathroom door begin to close.

"You're not the one who's the medic here!" Sakura replied before the resounding click resonated through the apartment.

Kakashi shook his head with a sigh as he retrieved his two cups of coffee, by the time Sakura was done her morning routines her portion would be cold. He'd pour a new one for her later. But first Kakashi would replace his orange book onto the bookshelf where it belonged and not on the table where Sakura had inevitably placed it last night. Kakashi then went back to the table to pick up the mugs. At the lack of weight in one of the cups Kakashi looked down in shock to find that her cup was empty. Furrowing his eyebrows and staring intensely at the bathroom door he shook his head not daring to ask when she had learned to eat like him too.

Throwing her cup into the sink and finishing off his own Kakashi opened his fridge and pulled out the bacon and eggs that Sakura had bought for him a few days ago. Quickly turning on the stove and doing what he needed to do, Kakashi smiled when the knowing click of the bathroom door was heard again. "Awake now?" He hummed quietly as Sakura came bounding up to him.

"Shut up, I told you to stop making fun of me in the morning," Sakura huffed as she crossed her arms. "Is that breakfast? Oh you're making me breakfast again, I told you that you didn't have to."

"Whoever said I was making YOU breakfast?" Kakashi replied.

Sakura blinked, "Two plates…"

"I might just be extremely hungry…"

"Right…" Sakura dawdled as she turned on her toe to sit at the dinning room table. Kakashi set her plate in front of her and his down on the table as he turned back to the kitchen to retrieve more coffee for the pink haired girl. "So I was thinking about putting you back on the mission roaster today," Sakura chirped as he set down her cup of coffee, just how she liked it.

"You took me off?" Kakashi asked as he pulled out his chair and sat down.

"Did you think I wouldn't?" Sakura scoffed as she sipped her coffee merrily, "I find you bloody and bruised upon visiting you, because I know that you're bloody and bruised, but seriously that was a little bit outlandish even for you."

"This is why I don't have carpet," Kakashi mumbled.

Sakura rolled her eyes as she took another sip of her coffee. "What time is it?" she asked with a smile on her face.

"Seven thirty two," Kakashi replied curtly and the next thing he knew a cup smacked into the side of his head. "What the hell?"

"You do know the time!" Sakura shouted as she stood up in a huff, "Always late for every single freaking thing and we all thought that it might have been your aversion to clocks, but noooo, you have a mental clock that always knows the time!"

"Sakura…"

"I have a freaking watch and I've just been making sure for the past two days, and you always get it right, to the very minute," Sakura mumbled, "Disgusting." Kakashi chuckled as the girl as she threw him another one of her famous glares, "I'm going to work." Sakura turned on her heel and marched out of the door. Kakashi blinked in shock as the frame shook from the force of the slam.

Usually Sakura would check his wounds before she left.

Usually Sakura would dote on him at least a little bit.

Usually Sakura would compliment his cooking skills, which was why he continued to cook for her, before she stood up.

Usually Sakura would tell him to keep safe and kiss him on the cheek before she left, it was the only reason that he even woke up this early.

"Shit!" Kakashi mumbled as he rested his head in his hands, "She's actually mad at me." His brain scanned through all of his options, before everything clicked into place. He would just have to up his ante and then she would have no choice but not to be mad at him again. Maybe he'd even get his kiss on the cheek, although it would probably be several hours late.

* * *

"What are you doing here?" Sakura asked tersely with a raised eyebrow and a tap of her foot. She had been told that there was a stray copy nin pacing outside of the hospital walls, looking up at the building as though wanting to go inside, but deciding not to for the past two hours and it was starting to irk some of the nurses.

"Took you long enough to come outside," Kakashi muttered as he reached into his pouch and pulled out his own orange novel. Sakura's eyes narrowed at him as she remembered that hers had gone missing due to his carelessness.

"What do you want Kakashi? I know that you don't like hospitals, so this better be important."

"This is for you," Kakashi muttered as his book suddenly henged into an array of smoke and suddenly a bento was in its place.

Sakura blinked before realizing that the book had been the henge in the first place, unless of course Kakashi was trying to feed her paper in disguise. Sakura tilted her head, 'eh, that wouldn't surprise me,' she thought as she reached out for the bento. "Thank you?"

But he was gone before Sakura could even register what was going on. Sakura delicately opened the bento, Kakashi had been right on time, well right on time for her considering that he had been here for the past two hours but that was beside the point. It was lunchtime, and Sakura was hungry. She smiled as she saw that he had packed her favorite foods.

Three hours later and Sakura was called out again as Ino gave her a pointed stare wondering what in gods name kept on making her friend leave the ward. Sakura shrugged as the nurse beside her fidgeted from the atmosphere in the room. "Kakashi? Again?" Sakura asked in surprise when she appeared at the door of the building.

The copy nin nodded reluctantly as he handed her another parcel. "Thought that you would want something to munch on considering your appetite..."

"Right…" Sakura mumbled as she looked into the package. She grinned as she saw that he had packed her a thermos of hot coffee and a chocolate croissant. She had just started to get peckish due to the afternoon heat. When she looked back up to thank him, he was already gone.

"Didn't that happen last time as well Forehead?" Ino chirped from the entrance of the hospital.

Sakura turned around and giggled nervously, "I have no idea what he's doing."

Ino just shook her head, "We'll see. He'll probably be around again."

And Ino was right, at the time Sakura was to be off her shift the copy nin was once again pacing in front of the hospital. "If only he came here this often to get his wounds treated," Sakura sighed as she glanced out of her window. "Why is he even doing this anyway?"

"Like I know forehead," Ino muttered, "I just wished that some lazy idiot would do that for me too."

"Uh huh…"

"He brought you chocolate, in the middle of the day. That man, I have to say is your dream come true," Ino piped as she snickered into her hand, she loved getting a rise out of her passionate friend. However, when Sakura didn't retort Ino's eyes widened in shock, "No way…"

"It's weird right? I mean he was fine two days ago, but I'm still sticking around because I just want to be with him. Don't you think it's weird? I mean both Naruto and Sai think its weird…" Sakura mumbled as she turned away from the window to continue to finish their cleaning before the end of their day.

"I think he's sexy," Ino replied as she stared at her nails. The blond frowned as she noticed that they weren't perfectly cut. Sakura gave her a glare, as Ino blew invisible dust from her hand and replied, "You asked for my opinion."

"I asked you if you thought it was weird."

"And I answered."

"And…you…weird…sexy… I'm going out on a whim here and I'm going to say that anything sexy is not disapproved by you."

"Oh you know me too well Sakura."

"Pig."

* * *

"Kakashi?" Sakura muttered as she approached the copy nin slowly. She was now on high alert, his behavior was just way too abnormal for her.

"You must be hungry again. Do you want to go out for dinner?" Kakashi asked slowly as he quirked an eyebrow at Sakura's highly defensive stance.

"Dinner?" Sakura mumbled, "I am feeling a little bit hungry again." Her stance relaxed as she got closer to the copy nin. He still felt the same, everything about him seemed normal from his happy eye crease to his hands stuffed deep into his pockets.

"Come on then, I'll pay."

Sakura's body went rigid again as she swung her fist at the man in front of her. Kakashi's eye widened in surprise as he caught her wrist before her fist could land on his face, he didn't like being punched by her was what he had learned the last two go arounds. "Who the hell are you and what have you done to Hatake Kakashi?" Sakura screamed as she tried to wrestle her wrist away from his grasp. Deciding that her foe was too strong she flung her other fist at him.

"Whoa, Sakura, whoa!" Kakashi stated as he caught her other wrist just centimeters away from his face, "That was way to close. What are you doing?"

"You might act and talk like the Kakashi, but he never pays for anything," Sakura snarled as she struggled and tried to land a kick on his abdomen. Once again she deemed her foe too strong and was about to scream out for help when Kakashi panicked and let go of her wrists to cover her mouth.

"I bought you coffee!" He shouted quickly as he retracted his hands on the fear that she would gnaw off his fingers if she so wished. He wouldn't put it past her to do so, his kunoichi was like that. He ignored that thought.

Sakura glared at him, "What time is it?"

"For goodness sakes Sakura…"

"What TIME is it?" the girl sneered again as she brought her wrist watch to her face and peered at it while continually flicking her eyes up to meet with his.

Kakashi rubbed his face in wonder as he looked up to the sky, "Let's go with six seventeen."

Sakura visibly relaxed, but then her lips pursed. "Why are you acting all funny today Kakashi?"

"Funny?"

"You're like standing twelve feet away from the hospital, that is unheard of for you." Kakashi opened his mouth to reply when Sakura continued, "You paced for two hours WAITING for someone, you delivered me lunch and snack and now you're inviting me out for dinner, which you say you will be paying for."

Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck as Sakura gave him a pointed look, "Okay, so I'm a little bit out of character."

"A little bit?"

"I just didn't want you to be mad at me anymore…"

Sakura blinked, "What? When was I ever mad at you?"

Kakashi blinked, "This morning, you know…the time issue…"

"I wasn't mad at you… if anything I expected that to be the case… that's why I even tried out my hypothesis to begin with…"

"Then why didn't you…"

"Why didn't I what?" Sakura asked with a raised eyebrow. Kakashi turned his eyes away from her and Sakura could have sworn that he was blushing if it wasn't for his mask. Sakura watched as Kakashi slowly brought up his hand to point at his cheek. She tilted her head not quite understanding when it dawned on her, "Oh!"

"Yah…"

And she burst into a fit of giggles. "You did…" she sniffled, "All of that because I didn't…" she clutched her stomach as the laughs continued to pour from her mouth, "Just because I didn't kiss you on the cheek!"

Kakashi stared at the laughing girl in front of him slightly put off by her reaction, "Er, maybe."

Sakura only laughed harder at his response before shaking her head and walking up to him, "You're so silly," Sakura whispered softly as she brought one of her hands to touch his cheek. Kakashi blinked as her face suddenly got closer and a minute pressure was felt on his lips. Colors burst every where for the one second the pressure remained and when it was gone, all he could see were her emerald eyes. "Thank you for the lunch Kakashi."

Kakashi blinked dumbfounded for just a second, and for the first time wished that she had just pulled down the cotton. She had already seen his face after all, "Uh… yah…"

"I'm sorry you thought I was mad this morning, I just had a lot on my mind. You can ask Ino about the huge procedure we had to do today, that was the reason it took me two hours to get out here the first time," Sakura grinned as she backed away from him, "So dinner still?"

Kakashi nodded, "And since you want to so much, you can pay for us." His grin was impish, but he hadn't been able to stop her fist this time. "Oomph."

The next day when Sakura was just about to go grab her lunch from the cafeteria a nurse came running up to her more frantic than the day before. Apparently the copy nin was once again spotted in front of the hospital and it was bringing the whole entire system into chaos. When she came out of the hospital doors with a raised eyebrow and her hands on her hips Kakashi merely waved, "Yo!" In his hands was another small bento box.

"If you keep doing this, I might just have to kiss you every day," Sakura mumbled as she took the bento from his hand and smiled up at him brilliantly as she leaned up to peck him on the lips. Kakashi frowned, he had been too slow to pull down his mask. But as he watched her reenter the hospital, a boyish grin couldn't help but appear on his face. Her words had just registered in his head.

The day after that Kakashi once again returned with a bounty in hand. When a red faced Sakura reentered the hospital to be attacked by Ino who had "Witnessed everything!", wanted to know "What the hell was going on?", why he had "Pulled down his mask!" and why did "Your head have to be so big that I couldn't see his face in person!", Sakura couldn't do anything but splutter about fireworks, swirly colors and impish grins paired with dimples before running off to eat her lunch.

Ino frowned at her best friend as she stormed to the cafeteria to eat their nasty and tasteless food. But the next day when Kakashi came back again with another bento, Ino only sneered at her best friend while clenching her fists and being utterly jealous, "Is he just repeating himself? Can't the copy nin do something else for a change? Fuck, of course the copy nin would copy the same actions again and again if there were good results!"

Sakura giggled, her cheeks red once again. Kakashi had managed to swallow up to five minutes of her time out in front of the hospital this time around. "Yah, but you wish that Shikamaru would just copy and do the same for you." And with that the pink haired girl walked away from the blond whistling a happy song.

Ino's nose crumpled in a huff as she crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at her best friend, "Stupid Forehead..."

"How troublesome…" Ino's eyes widened as she turned around to see a bento stuffed in her face.

"Thank me later Pig!"

* * *

N/A: Don't mind the random Shika/Ino just kinda...plopped in there...review please!


	5. Fall in Love With Me

Back at One

Premise: 1 You're like a dream come true; 2 Just wanna be with you; 3 Girl it's plain to see that you're the only one for me; and 4 Repeat steps 1 through 3; 5 Make you fall in love with me, if ever I believe my work is done then I'll start back at one. KakaSaku

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the song

* * *

Chapter 5: Fall in Love With Me

Sakura gathered all of her medical supplies and hurriedly stuffed them into her bag before bounding out of her door and down the road. She stopped as she remembered what she had forgotten. Hissing she turned around to close her door and lock it before running back to the crowded road. When she nearly tripped in her haste a string of curses poured from her mouth, but she continued onward to her destination despite scrapped knees and slightly wounded pride. She was a good shinobi damn it, why was she tripping while running!

"He actually called me," Sakura muttered to herself urgently as she traveled with the wind and leapt onto the rooftops, "How bad is it for him to actually call me!"

All in all, Sakura was in a state of utter and total panic when she reached Kakashi's front door. She didn't even try the knob as she smashed the door in and leapt into his apartment. "Kakashi!" Her entrance was as anti climactic as ever. No bleeding copy nin was lying half dead on his living room floor unlike the last time he had gotten hurt.

"Splendid entrance Sakura, but you really didn't have to tear my door down. Opening it would have been fine. I unlocked it for you, you know."

Sakura blinked… and then blinked again trying to register the horrid image in front of her. Kakashi was walking around the kitchen, the aroma of food drifting in the air, but more than that. He was wearing the pink, frilly and absolutely ridiculous apron that she had brought for herself three weeks ago as part of her unsightly cooking ruse. "What the…"

"Pink is a good color on me don't you think?"

"For once in my life I'm begging that you tell me that that is some form of hopeless innuendo."

"You should stop reading my books Sakura," Kakashi laughed as he opened his oven to check on the dinner he was preparing for his special, definitely will never be a chef, guest.

Sakura's eyes watered from the heavenly smell before she regained her senses, "If you think that looks good on you, I can see why you wear the same thing every day. Best to stay safe rather than look like an idiot."

"But you see Sakura, I already looked like an idiot the moment I started delivering you lunch."

"The nurses can vouch for that. Some of them are still kind of out of it. One of them is convinced she is in a coma and living in a backwards realm where Hatake Kakashi, the esteemed copy nin, actually is stepping foot in a hospital. Well she is living in that realm but you know, you get my drift."

"Not in."

"Close enough."

"So, what is with the destruction of my door? Usually you are kind enough to at least try the knob."

Sakura's eyebrows furrowed, "Usually you don't call me for anything including brink of deathiness."

"You threatened me with the disappearance of my books."

"You still wouldn't normally call me. I've been threatening you for years."

"Maybe the fact that you were reading them has finally made me open my eyes to the fact of how serious you may now be."

"It was the tears wasn't it."

"Ah…"

"Hatake Kakashi, a man immobilized by the tears of a crying woman. Man if I knew this…"

"It wouldn't have worked any earlier."

"Right… so where oh great and mighty copy nin are you injured?" Kakashi gave her his classic eye crinkle as he checked the oven one more time before taking off the pink apron. Sakura made a mental note to burn it later. If Kakashi were to ever be hers, she didn't want anyone to see him dressed like that. She blanched at the thought and her eyes bugged out at his further actions. He proceeded to remove his shirt. "Wait, Kakashi, what the hell are you…WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?"

"An injury Sakura, you know the thing that I called you here for…"

"And you've been casually talking to me for the past two minutes, I should beat you over the head for this," Sakura screamed as she charged forward with her backpack still in hand and grabbed his arm. His whole entire back had been burnt and was still oozing liquid. The material of his shirt was still slightly sticking to the wounds and Sakura could only wonder how he had managed not to wince when he had taken the garment off. She dragged him into his living room and threw him onto the couch face first. The springs creaked in protest.

"Be nice to the injured patient," Kakashi whined as he lifted his head to look at the pink haired girl. Her hands were already glowing green and she was working on his back at the speed of light. Despite the pain he couldn't help but think that her lip chewing was cute and endearing. For once he didn't really have to ignore that thought.

"I can't believe that you put on a new shirt, you're so stupid," Sakura growled as she slapped his not burnt shoulder. "One, you could have saved an entirely good shirt and two, I could not be picking cotton out of your wounds right now!"

Kakashi groaned ever so slightly from the added pain before happily quipping, because honestly the pain was worth the worry, "But then we wouldn't have had that engaging conversation about pinkness."

"Engaging my butt. We both knew already that you have a horrid sense of fashion."

"Yes, yes. But that wasn't what I meant. I meant that you apparently think that your pink… would look good on me."

"You pervert!" Sakura shouted as she slapped him on the shoulder again. He winced before laughing and pressing his face into the couch. Sakura chewed on her lip again as she finished healing his back. "Is there anything else Kakashi?"

"I don't know."

"Kakashi…"

"Why don't you check for me?" Kakashi winced again as his shoulder blazed with a momentary pain. "I think my shoulder is now in more pain that my back ever was."

"Shut up you big baby and get me my food."

Kakashi sighed as he sat up and stretched his back. Nothing seemed wrong with it and he hummed in relief. Only Sakura would be able to do this for him, no other medic would make healing feel quite so good. "Do you want me to put my shirt first or no?" However, no other medic could also make him hurt so bad either.

* * *

Sakura hummed happily from the delicious food in front of her. The five days that she had spent at Kakashi's house the last time he had received an injury had turned her taste buds back to normal. Although her cooking still didn't taste inedible, it now was no longer enjoyable. She didn't know whether or not to curse the copy nin for taking away her blissful unawareness away or to love him for continuing to cook for her when he could. "I missed you so much while you were gone."

"You missed my cooking Sakura…."

"You caught me."

Kakashi gave her a boyish grin as he shoveled some rice into his mouth. It was almost saddening that she didn't even care to stare any more, but the price was definitely worth it. "Do you want to stay tonight?"

"Do you think your couch misses me or something?" Sakura mumbled as she hummed again at the flavor explosion, "I'm pretty sure that the old thing could do without me."

"It _can_ do without you, I can't."

Sakura froze and looked up at him with wide eyes. "Huh?"

"Eloquent response as always."

"What?"

"Stay with me tonight Sakura… and I don't mean that you should sleep on the couch."

"I've told you before Kakashi, your bed isn't exactly made for two."

"Are you sure about that?"

Sakura blinked before she set her chopsticks down quickly on the table and stood up. Kakashi continued eating when the breeze, generated by a moving body, shifted his hair to the side and a gasp was heard from about where his bedroom door was supposed to be. Kakashi looked up ruefully at his make shift front door, he would have to replace the poor thing tomorrow, or maybe every single day for the rest of his life, but again the toss up was worth it. "When did your bed expand?" Sakura shouted down the hall.

"Beds don't expand Sakura."

"You still have the same blanket."

"Is that your way of saying you'll spend the night?" Kakashi asked as he felt her presence behind him. Her chin rested on his shoulder as her arms wound around his neck. He took a bit of rice and popped it in her mouth. He felt her jaw move around against his skin and nearly groaned when she swallowed. "Sakura? You're killing me here."

"Glad that I'm the only person who can do that."

"Seriously Sakura…"

"No Kakashi. I'm serious here. If I stay tonight I might stay forever and if I do you have to promise me that you won't die on me. That someday I won't be sleeping in this place alone," Kakashi shifted in his chair to look into her bright, green eyes. "Promise me Kakashi."

"I can't promise you that Sakura, you know I can't. I can never give a promise like that, but I will try, I will definitely try because I don't want you sleeping alone ever again either."

Sakura paused and backed away from him. She walked around the table and took a seat, grabbing her rice bowl again. "Then I'll stay." Kakashi smiled like he had never smiled before, "You," Sakura muttered as she punctuated the word with a jab of her chopsticks, her cheeks turning red, "Should do that more often." Apparently she still did like to stare.

* * *

"You're moving in with him."

"Yes Shishou."

"You are moving in with Hatake Kakashi."

"Yes Shishou."

"The brat actually asked you to move in with him."

"Meh… yes Shishou."

"Well I'll be damned," Tsunade stated with a raise of her eyebrow. She pushed back in her chair to stare at her flushed student and the brilliant smile on her face before crossing her arms and shaking her head. "I never thought that the copy nin would be one for commitment."

"I didn't think so either," Sakura giggled as her face flushed even more and she shuddered from happiness that was radiating out of her. Tsunade could feel the happiness seeping back into her own pores and that was when she knew that the pink haired girl had to leave her office.

"You are now a giggly, girly mess. Get out of my sight; you have my approval, though honestly you could have done better than the brat."

"Thank you Shishou!"

"Ah, ah." Sakura giggled again as Tsunade sighed and watched Sakura stand up and leave the office practically skipping. "She doesn't even know it…" Tsunade murmured as she flicked her nail and rested her chin in the palm of her hands, "What would I give to be young and in love again." But Tsunade couldn't help but feel overwhelmed that her apprentice sought her approval despite being a fully-grown woman. The Hokage smiled before glaring back at her paper work.

Sakura exited the Hokage tower still positively beaming and ran right into Ino and Shikamaru. "Forehead!"

"Pig!"

"What's got you so happy?" Ino asked with a quirk of her eyebrow, "It's like you have sunshine in your soul or something just as cheesy and stupid."

"I moved in with Kakashi last night. I mean I haven't totally moved in yet because I will actually need to move all of my stuff, but the decision was made last night!"

"Seriously? You've moving in with him?"

"Yes!"

"I thought this was only just about lunch and kissing or something."

"It was, now it's more and whoaaaa!"

"Ah! Forehead, you're finally going to get laid!"

"And I was just about to ask you to help me move myself stuff too Pig!"

"I'll be there at eight tomorrow morning. Don't be late. Seriously, don't take on his habits, no matter how sexy he is…"

"Troublesome…"

"Aw, Shika, you still know that you're the sexiest one for me."

"Oh god, don't need to hear this. I'll see you tomorrow then, neh?"

"Definitely Forehead."

Sakura waved good-bye to Ino and proceeded to go find Naruto. She knew exactly where he would be. Popping into Ichiraku Ramen, Sakura grinned at the obtusely orange form of her teammate. "Naruto!"

"Neh, Sakura-chan!" Naruto bellowed in joy as he grinned at her with ramen still hanging from his lips. Sakura ignored the disgusting display and skipped in to sit down beside him.

"One bowl of pork ramen please!" Sakura beamed.

"You seem happy today," Naruto mumbled through his gorging.

"I'm moving in with Kakashi…"

"Eww…"

"And you will have nothing but good things to say about that Naruto," Sakura chirped. Naruto got the point, he would be flying to the outskirts of Konoha if he even dared to object. Which honestly he wouldn't because even though the thought of Kakashi with Sakura burned his eyeballs out of his head, he couldn't help but actually bathe in her happiness.

"I'm happy for you Sakura-chan!"

"Thank you Naruto. I was wondering if you would come by tomorrow to help me pack my things."

"Of course Sakura-chan!"

"Eight okay?"

"Neh, so early?"

"Just deal."

"Fine."

"And drag Sai with you. Only you know how to locate him."

"Mou, but Sakura-chan…"

"It means less work for you," Sakura sang. Naruto sighed and nodded his head. Sakura kissed him on the cheek warmly and Naruto grinned. He didn't remember the last time Sakura had been so happy and if he could be in any way a part of her happiness, it would be good enough for him. They ate together in mostly silence with a comment inserted here and there; they didn't need idle chatter, their friendship spoke volumes enough.

While Sakura was skipping home to Kakashi's apartment, Kakashi had decided to join her. "The whole entire village wasn't kidding when they said a ray of sunshine was walking through the village," Kakashi grinned.

"Oh shush," Sakura muttered as her cheeks turned pink.

"Really, moving in makes you this happy?"

"Of course!"

"Why?"

Sakura paused and blinked, "I… actually don't know… it just does."

Kakashi laughed at this as Sakura scowled at him slightly. They walked side by side with Sakura deliberately bumping into him several times and giggling while doing so. Kakashi couldn't believe that she didn't know. "Dinner with me tonight?"

"I would think so."

"Good."

* * *

Sakura stared at her photo of Team 7 in their youth. Ino, behind her, was placing all of her medical books and scrolls into a large box while humming away and swinging her hips to some silent song. "Can you believe how far we've come?" Sakura asked as she touched the face of her missing teammate.

"Yah. We used to fight over that boy," Ino grinned.

"Don't know why you two ever fought over the teme," Naruto muttered as he tossed Sakura's linens haphazardly into another box.

"I would believe that I am a less emotionally stunted teammate anyway," Sai muttered as he peaked at the picture. Sakura and Naruto gave him a surprised look before turning to each other.

Two laughs burst out before Naruto nodded, "Man you're right."

"Of course I'm right dickless. I have been part of Team Kakashi longer than he had been."

"Yah Sai. Sasuke was on Team 7, you're on Team Kakashi," Sakura grinned and hugged the frame to her body at the mention of the copy nin's name. Naruto paused in his attacking of Sai when he heard Sakura's still bright giggles.

"You have it so bad Forehead."

"Huh?"

Ino just shook her head in exasperation as she closed the box with the books inside and proceeded with raiding Sakura's closet and gathering up her garments. Sakura blinked and looked down at the photo again and smiled at the picture of Kakashi standing right behind her. "He's always been there for me."

"I've always been there too Sakura-chan."

"I know Naruto and I love you." Ino, Sai and Naruto all stopped to look at Sakura with their eyes wide open. Did she finally… they had been waiting for this moment since yesterday. "But I'm in love with Kakashi."

"That was anti-climactic," Sai muttered, "My book said declarations of love would be extravagant."

"Declarations of love?" Sakura muttered slowly with a confused pout as she looked up at her friends.

Ino sighed and rolled her eyes, "You sure are stupid for having such a large Forehead."

Sakura blinked once, then twice before shooting up to her feet with wide eyes, "I'm in love with him!" Sakura was met by stares and silence, "What? He made me do it!"

"That isn't the issue Sakura-chan," Naruto laughed and fell on his back while rolling around.

"You only just realized this?" Ino muttered with a wirily smile, "You were spouting sunshine, of course you were in love."

Sakura stared at her hands before her head snapped up and she stared at the door. Ino laughed at her reaction and continued to fold her clothes while thinking about Shikamaru. In the next moment Sakura had sprinted out of her room and toward the kitchen at full tilt. "Is this what is called the chase of love?" Sai asked with scrunched eyebrows.

"Not really chasing when he's waiting for it," Naruto muttered as he glared at the box that was stuffed too full of crumpled sheets to add any more. Sakura had told him that all of her linens would fit, why were they not? "Ick, he's been waiting for it."

Sakura slid into her kitchen and caught her balance with her hands, where Kakashi was packing away all of her cooking utensils. "I don't understand how you could have had any use for any of this considering your lack of skill, I feel sorry for those that were part of your testing…" Kakashi muttered as he rifled through her cupboards to see if he had missed anything.

Sakura breathed in deeply before hugging Kakashi tightly from behind and cried out, "I'm in love with you Kakashi! I'm in love with you…"

Three shadows stared into the entrance of the kitchen, watching the exchange.

"There is the climax… the book never lies…"

"I think the whole neighborhood heard that…"

"When did Sakura-chan get louder than me?"

Kakashi smiled and shook his head, "Finally figured it out?"

"Shut up and tell me you love me too," Sakura mumbled as she buried her nose into his shoulder blades trying to not feel as stupid as everyone knew that she was. Her grip tightened around him.

Kakashi shook his head and laughed as he turned around to hug her back, "I love you too Sakura."

* * *

A/N: So...I think that this chapter had a lot of dialogue in it...yah. Review please : D


	6. Back at One

Back at One

Premise: 1 You're like a dream come true; 2 Just wanna be with you; 3 Girl it's plain to see that you're the only one for me; and 4 Repeat steps 1 through 3; 5 Make you fall in love with me, if ever I believe my work is done then I'll start back at one. KakaSaku

Disclaimer: I do not own

* * *

Chapter 6: Back At One

"You, my large foreheaded friend, are acting like a nervous wreck," Ino muttered as she sipped her mocha and raised her eyebrow at her pink haired café companion.

Sakura scowled back at her as she chewed on her straw and looked out the window for the fifth time in the past ten minutes. Her fist clenched around her cup as her fingers shook, "I'm just worried okay?" Sakura muttered darkly as she turned back to her friend and stuck her tongue out at the blond.

Ino shrugged her shoulders with a laugh and took another sip. Sakura's knuckles were still a stark white. "He's only been gone for two days. The mission was supposed to take at least one week, calm down Sakura, I'm pretty sure the copy nin isn't going to be dying anytime soon. Especially now that he has someone very important to come home to."

"I'm still allowed to worry Ino, or should I remind you about how you first reacted during Shikamaru's first mission after you guys got together? You were even with him on the mission and you were constantly getting panic attacks in the woods when he went to take a piss," Sakura teased as her hand finally relaxed.

"I thought it was agreed that we would never talk about that time ever again and you are still being irrational because this is not the first time he's been on a mission since you've moved in."

"I'm just trying to say that you shouldn't judge me you hypocritical Pig."

"Fine, be that way Forehead see if I ever try to comfort your ungrateful giant head again. Now tell me why you didn't order coffee, hmm? It's early in the morning and you have cold tea, that is so unlike you," Ino murmured with a sly grin on her face, "Even better you don't even look like the giant monster that you usually are. Hm, maybe you actually look worse, lose the worry lines already…" The question was unnecessary; it was just funny to see Sakura's flustered reaction every single time, without fail. Everyone knew whom usually made or purchased Sakura's coffee in the morning, how could you miss the famous cheapskate making such a mundane purchase for a girl?

Sakura frowned and stared at her iced tea, "Shut up about the coffee, it's not like I don't know why you ask! It's just not the same. I swear he knows what coffee I like more than I do now."

"Knowing him, probably, but maybe it's because his coffee has a touch of love in it," Ino replied with a tease as she took another sip of her mocha and watched her friend turn into the color of a tomato, "But you my dear friend are in so deep. You can't even drink coffee without him anymore."

"Coffee is a very important symbol between us two with or without the dumb touch of freaking love," Sakura said with a pout as she chewed on her straw some more and once again peaked out of the window, "What do you think his mission is about? When was the last time that Hatake Kakashi was sent out on a solo mission to Iwa?"

"No idea."

"I tried to get Shishou to tell me the details of his mission…"

"You personally went to bug the Hokage? I think you're doomed…"

"I knew I was in deep when I told him I loved him," Sakura replied curtly, "But seriously, Shishou refused to tell me anything about his mission. She didn't even mention the rank or anything. Shishou usually tells me anything that I need to know about my team."

"Lucky butt…"

"But do you know what the weirdest part is? Shishou was practically drowning down the sake while I was interrogating her and I mean three bottles in five minutes…"

"Probably because you're freaking scary when you're interrogating people…"

"And she only drowns down the sake when there is bad news. Does this mean that Kakashi is already dead and she just can't tell me!"

"Calm down Forehead, you're going to get wrinkles at this rate." Ino looked around the café; there were already a couple stares that were coming their way. Usually it was her that was the loud one, now she knew what it was like to be on the other side.

"Pig! What if Kakashi is dead and Shishou is trying to drown that sorrow and loss away and that's why she can't tell me what the heck is going on and Pig! Tell me something good already," Sakura cried out as she clutched her head dramatically and shook is with vigor. "He can't be dead, he seriously can't be dead. Is he dead Pig?"

"Who's dead?" a deep voice asked behind Sakura.

"Her boyfriend," Ino smiled as she shifted over.

"Don't call Kakashi my boyfriend, that just sounds so wrong…" Sakura mumbled.

"Fantastic lover then…"

"Go to hell Pig."

"Troublesome," Shikamaru remarked as he took a seat right beside the blond. "He's only been gone for two days."

"That's what I told her."

"Of course."

"She's going to get wrinkles…"

"From worrying too much."

"I know right?"

"And then you troublesome women will complain about it."

"You know it."

"Do you two always think on the same train of thought?" Sakura scowled as the two had their own private discussion right in front of her. When they didn't reply Sakura's face twisted into a deeper scowl, "And all this time I thought that Shikamaru was smart, but obviously his brain has short circuited now that he has chosen to date you."

"Oi Forehead, I'm freaking brilliant."

"Whatever, I'm going to go to work now," Sakura muttered as she stood up with her half finished cold tea and her beyond the point of repair straw.

"Don't kill yourself with worry Forehead."

"I'm sure Kakashi won't be happy to come home to worried, pink, troublesome woman."

"Thanks Shikamaru, but only you come home to a troublesome woman."

"Except blond," the lazy genius corrected gently.

"Better be."

"Troublesome."

Sakura sneered when the two reentered their private world as she threw open the café door and marched out onto the street. Receiving stares and glaring back at all those who gave, Sakura left a path of dust in her wake. Ino giggled up a storm when Shikamaru sighed and leaned forward on his elbows, "I thought you couldn't keep a secret for your life."

"Secrets aren't the same as gossip, and ohh do I have some good gossip," Ino giggled loudly. Once again the attention in the café was back on the longhaired blond and her exasperated boyfriend.

Sakura reached the hospital, tore through the nurse's station and snarled at every living thing that she had met and then started her workday. Between the patients and the medical miracles that she had witnessed and performed she had managed to forget, if just for a little while, about the copy nin who was currently working out of the city and/or possibly dead. She had fixed a whole entire genin team's bones after a mission gone wrong, sent the previously untouched jonin in charge of the team across the city and she had managed to extract poison from a whole Anbu squadron before the morning was over.

However, at lunchtime, it all came back into perspective as she stared out the front door of the hospital with an empty stomach.

"N-Naruto, I have no lunch!" Sakura cried as she buried her face into her hands and sobbed. She had made it this far back into the hospital, shoving once again through the nurses before collapsing on one of the couches.

Naruto blinked and flailed around her not exactly knowing what to do, he had experienced Sakura like this before, but he had never been alone during those times. He had no idea who the brilliant person was that had called him for this particular emergency; obviously they knew nothing about their team dynamic, even Sai would have been a better choice for an emotional Sakura. "Uh, I can get you some lunch Sakura-chan!"

"I have no lunch because I keep on expecting him outside the hospital doors with a bento box and he's not! Now I'm troubling you because I was being so foolish!" The sobs only got louder and all the nurses on duty tried their hardest to ignore the medic that was having a break down in the waiting room in front of their future Hokage. They knew Sakura was volatile, they just hadn't known that she cared so much for the copy nin with a huge aversion to the building.

Naruto stuttered again while he flailed his arms and decided to put them on her shoulders in the last moment as she continued to sob in her hands. "Neh, Sakura-chan I can go get you some ramen if you're really hungry and it isn't troublesome at all. You're hanging around Shikamaru too much," Naruto stuttered as he tried to remain calm. For once in his life he wished Sai was there with them, at least the boy was eerily calm when Sakura was crying her eyes out. The boy could make her angry instantly and an angry Sakura was better than a crying Sakura.

"But it's not the same! There isn't the touch of love!" Sakura bawled as she wiped at the tears coming from her eyes.

"But I love you Sakura-chan!"

"It's still not the same!" Her stomach growled at her wearily and she sniffled, "However, I guess it's okay, but can I come with you actually. The nurses kind of demanded that I go back home after I threw the chair at the window when Kakashi hadn't appeared for lunch… I don't know why I should go home for something like that, do you?"

Naruto laughed nervously, "I would never imagine why…"

"Do you know where Kakashi is?" Sakura mumbled weakly as she stood up with the help of her friend.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and laughed nervously, "No clue, let's go get food Sakura-chan. Food!"

Sakura laughed and nodded as Naruto turned away and sighed in relief. He couldn't resist her puppy dog eyes when she wanted to really know something; thankfully he usually didn't so she usually didn't try.

* * *

Sakura rolled in bed and sighed. She had been trying to go to sleep for the past two hours but sleep was not coming to her. Her side of the bed, which was usually just enough for her was just not cutting it for once and she was frustrated as to why. She had been having the same problems for the past couple of nights, but usually exhaustion would come and she would faint before midnight, but not tonight. Tonight she wasn't tired because the stupid nurses had sent her home early. "Arg," Sakura mumbled as she dug her face into her pillow. The fabric was now clammy and warm; the other side was the same. She had flipped over her pillow multiple times already and it didn't help at all.

"Kakashi…you suck…" Sakura mumbled into her pillow as she turned her head and stared at his side of the bed. It was empty. They had their sides, but once in a while it didn't really matter. The reason her pillow wasn't quite cutting it these days was because he had become her pillow and he wasn't there at the moment to pillow her.

"When you come back I'm going to not let you sleep for three days," Sakura mumbled as she rolled over and stared at the ceiling. She blinked a couple times before turning a bright red and crossed her eyes. She sighed as she rolled on the bed and finally decided to invade his side, "And you are not going to like it either you pervert…"

Sakura dug her face into his pillow and breathed in the deep scent that was so copy nin, "Great now I'm talking to you as though you were actually here. I'm in… much too deep…"

The next thing Sakura was aware of was the sunshine that shone down on her and the scent that surrounded her. It appeared that her solution to her sleepless nights had been his side of the bed all along. It smelled exactly like Kakashi.

* * *

"Sai, you called for me?" Sakura asked as she stuck her head out of the hallway first before revealing her whole entire body. She was back at the hospital working again after arguing with Shizune and Tsunade about how unreasonable the nurses had been for kicking her out of the facility.

She had to replace the window and chair with her own money before she was readmitted into the establishment and even then it was rather reluctantly. Most of the nurses refused to come close to her more than ever. Some already believed that she was a witch that had managed to cast a spell on Hatake Kakashi in order for him to come so close to the hospital and that theory had only been solidified by Sakura's insane reaction to the lack of said Kakashi.

"Yes, hag." Sai gave her his trademark smile, and Sakura resisted the urge to punch the boy. Shizune had mentioned anger management in the one week that Kakashi had been gone and Sakura was using all of her will power to prove the Hokage's assistant that she was wrong. "You might want to go to the Konoha gate right now, the sooner you see him the better for the whole village."

"He's coming home?" Sakura squeaked as she rushed forward to shove her face into the of Sai's.

Sai only stepped back slightly from the sudden onslaught, "The books say that women are supposed to meet up with the man they love after a long journey…"

"How do you know he's coming home?"

"He sent one of his mutts ahead of him to tell us that he wanted to see you the moment he was back."

"He did?" Sakura squealed.

"He did, but I don't know why he would want to see your ugly face first thing into the village," Sai replied.

At that moment Sakura thought 'to hell with anger management' and sent him flying out of the hospital doors. She had a copy nin to meet at the gate and the boy was just being annoying.

Sadly Sai hadn't even deserved the hit had Sakura held back for a couple more seconds to hear his next words. Good thing she hadn't though.

Sakura excused herself from the hospital with little resistance, no one ever resisted the pink haired medic, and rushed back to the apartment that she now shared with the copy nin to get changed out of her work uniform. Dressing up nice with a short, black skirt and matching shorts, a short-sleeved red shirt and sensible but pretty shoes Sakura dashed towards the Konoha gate. When she arrived Kakashi hadn't appeared yet. He was late, but that was no surprise.

"Where is he?"

"The answer is still the same as five minutes ago Sakura-san," Izumo replied with an idle grin.

"He did say he would be here soon right?"

"What is soon to the copy nin?" Kotetsu replied with a smirk.

"Soon would be now boys. Yo!" Kakashi greeted as he appeared with a whirlwind of leaves. The next thing he knew he was on the ground with a pink haired blob pinning down his body. He blinked in shock, when was the last time he had ever been taken by surprise… other than those two incidences that were never going to be mentioned again.

"Kakashi!" Sakura sobbed as she hugged him tighter and snuggled her face into his jonin vest.

"So glad you're back," Izumo laughed, "Your girlfriend nearly tore apart the city in the time you were gone."

"Is that so?" Kakashi asked as he looked at Sakura who was still clinging on to him for dear life, "That's a good sign."

"Good luck man, I'll tell Tsunade-sama for you," Kotetsu muttered as he shook his head and ran off towards the Hokage tower, "She'll probably need another crate of sake after today as well…"

"Remember to tell anyone else that needs to know!" Izumo shouted.

Kakashi nodded as he shifted to stand up with Sakura still attached to his side, "Was it really that bad with me gone?"

Sakura nodded her head as she sniffled, "I haven't eaten anything but ramen for the past week, I haven't had caffeine in the same period of time, Ino says that I'm going to look old soon, the nurses are picking on me, I can barely sleep and Shizune says that I need anger management classes…"

"Shizune's suggestion is very…"

"Don't say it!"

Kakashi sighed when Sakura smacked his arm and then laughed as he embraced the pink haired girl tightly to him. He had missed her just as much as well, but he would never say it, "Does having me not here mess you up that much?"

"Don't ever leave without me again…"

"Ah…"

"I missed you Kakashi."

"Do you want to take a walk then? Just you and me?" Kakashi asked as he looked down at the girl that he loved. He hoped that the last question would fend away all of the watchers, but he knew he was doomed from the moment that Ino had appeared from the other side of the Hokage's door when he had requested his trip to Iwa.

"Okay…" Sakura murmured and shifted so that she held onto his arm only. Kakashi grinned under his mask as Izumo gave him a curt nod and a roll of his eyes. Kakashi then set off down the path and towards the training grounds, "This is going to be extremely romantic isn't it?"

"Most of our memories are in that place," Kakashi replied as he continued to tug her along.

"I didn't think that this is what you would mean for a walk. I would have dressed more appropriately," Sakura pouted.

"I think you look beautiful."

Sakura blushed, "Thank you…"

"You have looked beautiful for a long time now." Kakashi sighed; his plan was rolling along nicely so far.

"I didn't think you were into flattery…"

"But the most beautiful I ever thought you were was when you were sitting under this very tree…"

"Is that so?" Sakura asked as she stared at the aforementioned tree. She couldn't recall anything special about it.

"This was the place where I saw you reading Icha Icha for the first time," Kakashi replied with a happy smile and a lecherous grin.

"There is the Kakashi I know," Sakura laughed as she playfully slapped his arm, "It's a good book."

"I know, but I brought you back here for a reason."

"Oh really?"

"Yah, we're now Back at One…"

"Huh?"

"The place where you became my dream come true…"

"Are you quoting from one of the books Kakashi? Because that's just not right…"

"It was also on this training ground that I discovered that I just wanted to be with you…"

"I see… you ARE quoting from one of your books…"

"Here was where I also found out that you're the only one for me."

Sakura smiled, "I'm glad that that was the case."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"An old man like me?" Kakashi asked as he grabbed both of her hands in his and held them up to his cheeks.

"You're not old Kakashi," Sakura scowled as she tugged at his mask and pulled it down so that it pooled around his neck. She leaned up and pecked him on the lips.

"No maybe I'm not," Kakashi murmured as he faced her quickly and then promptly dropped down to one knee. Gasps were heard. He reached into his pocket and tried to dig out what he had searched for, purchased and stored there on his 'mission' to Iwa. He looked up at the pink haired girl as he began to pull the object from his pocket.

Sakura blinked slowly before screaming out. Kakashi was beyond proud of himself; he knew that making the long trip was worth the reaction from the girl. Iwa after all made the best ones. But then Kakashi blinked as Sakura's face was suddenly on level with his, which was _not_ supposed to happen. "You STUPID IDIOT!"

Whatever he had planned to say instantly buzzed out of his head, "What?"

"You are the most foolish man on the face of history!" Sakura cried out as she ripped his vest open with a loud snap. Snickers could be heard all around her but she didn't pay much attention to the extra noise.

"Uh…"

"I knew the you were injured!" Sakura muttered darkly as she continued to tear his shirt open. More snickers. "You always get injured on your dangerous and stupid missions."

Kakashi blanched, "I'm what?" He was growing paler by the second. For once in his life he had made a plan and now it was falling apart right before his eyes. It was official, he was never planning anything ever again.

"You got injured on your stupid mission again and you didn't tell me right away!" The snickers had turned into guffaws.

"I didn't get injured at all Sakura…"

"Then why did you fall to your knees?" Sakura demanded with a poke to his bare chest. Laughs didn't quite describe the sounds that were coming out of the trees now.

Kakashi could feel the sweat rolling down his neck, "I was trying to…"

"Trying to what you dufus?"

"I was trying to propose to you Sakura…"

Silence passed between the two as Sakura stopped running her hands across his chest and over his arms. His muscles tensed as Sakura's eyes ran over his form and his kneeled position. Her eyes then flashed to his hand where the one of a kind gem and ring were still being clenched. Her mouth opened into an 'O' before she turned a bright red. "You were trying to…"

"Just stand back up Sakura…"

"Y-Yah!" Sakura stuttered as she clamored to her feet and shoved her hand into his face.

Kakashi just laughed as Sakura continued to turn even redder than before. Her extended hand was shaking and he grabbed it gently with his own and gave her a reassuring smile. Screw his totally awesome plan, "Haruno Sakura…" He was going back to plan one, "Will you marry me?"

"Y-yes! I m-mean I can't even live without you anymore, if this week had anything to say to that…" Sakura murmured as Kakashi slipped the ring onto her finger and stood up to hold her once again. The laughs continued in the trees although now it seemed as though they were trying to be concealed. "I'm so sorry…" Sakura murmured as she hid her face into his chest in embarrassment.

"It's okay… you wouldn't be you if you didn't do something stupid," Kakashi replied as he held her close and grinned into her hair. He hadn't been able to sleep for the past few days either. He took in a deep breath and sighed in contentment.

"Everyone is watching aren't they," Sakura murmured into his vest as her cheeks heated up, "Everything everyone said this week makes sense now…"

"Yah they are and yes they do, but that doesn't matter. You're mine now, and I love you."

"Ah…I love you too," Sakura murmured, "Now let's go home so that you can be my pillow…"

"Okay."

* * *

A/N: This is the last chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. The proposal was what I wanted to write the most for this whole entire story but I don't know if it ended up like how I wanted it to be. It hope that you enjoyed this story. And now for shameless advertising. Tell me if you like the idea!

Premise: AU Sakura's brother, Sasuke, has found himself blinded just as Danzou and his nins invade the Fire Country and so Sakura takes his place in the all male regime not expecting her general to be the famed Hatake Kakashi. KakaSaku. Based on Disney's Mulan


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